1. Field of the Invention
One or more embodiments of the invention have applicability in the fields of computer software, hardware, and network communication technologies. More particularly, the invention is directed to a method and apparatus for generating and distributing sets of personalized media clips.
2. Background
Modern systems generate and utilize multimedia data in a plurality of different ways. For example, users can currently communicate information to and hear responses from systems that generate audio data and transmit that data back to the user over the telephone. Typically, existing systems utilize a mapping between one form of data (e.g. numerical information or text data) and a set of audio files to generate an audio file for playback. One common scenario where this occurs is when calling a bank to check bank account balances or transfer money. The system at the bank may, for example, obtain a user's account information via touchtone input and audibly playback that users account information for purposes of confirmation. Existing systems for building and distributing such audio files use the input to map to a set of prerecorded audio tracks and assemble a message for playback. The end result is often times an awkward sounding message that fails to seamlessly integrate the prerecorded audio tracks.
Existing solutions do not provide a way to generate an audio file that seamlessly integrates a plurality of audio files in a way that makes the generated file sound like an original recording with undetectable transitions, rather than a computer generated message. Moreover, current systems do not personalize the content of the generated audio file based on user information automatically obtained from the device or software program utilized to access the system and/or context information associated with the user. For instance, current systems do not provide a mechanism for automatically generating and disseminating a personalized audio file to a user viewing a web page. As a result of these limitation and others there is a need for an improved system for generating and dispatching personalized media clips.
Another problem with current systems is that such systems do not have an integrated mechanism for generating and distributing sets of one or more personalized audio files to a plurality of recipients. For instance, existing system lack a mechanism for utilizing databases of information to generate a personalized media file and then distribute that personalized media to one or more appropriate users via electronic mail or some other distribution means. Current systems, for example, do not allow for seamlessly integrated personalized media messages to be sent to customers such as an audio clip with the following content: “[title][user surname], your account requires a payment of [deficit amount], where [title] is Mr./Mrs./Ms./Dr., [user surname] is the customers last name and [deficit amount] is the payment required.